Siblings are something that most people have. Sure, there are the only children who grew up
on their own, but most people have at least a brother or a sister to go through
life with. The relationships between
siblings can be vastly different. There
can be a loving relationship, whether it be mentor and mentee or two people
just going through the world together, keeping each other company and building
each other up. There can be the
relationship where siblings can just go about their lives separately, living in
the same house, but barely interacting outside of the bare minimum. Or there’s the irritation relationship where
the siblings go at each other every time they come together. They do nothing but fight.
Most relationships between siblings are a mixture. There are moments that they’ll be fighting
fiercer than any other two people could fight.
At other times, they’ll be the most supportive people in each other’s
lives. Then there are the times when
they want nothing to do with each other.
That’s how life goes, especially between siblings. There can be love. There can be hate. Relationships are always that way.
The relationships that siblings have with one another have
been a major part of movies for many years.
Not all movies dive utilize siblings.
If a story can work without a sibling, then a main character won’t have
any siblings mentioned. But when there
is a side of the story that involves siblings, the relationship is a key part
to understanding the family. That
understanding will deepen a story and connect the audience better to the
characters. At least, that’s the
intention.
One movie that comes to mind with a fairly accurate
depiction of sibling relationships is This is Where I Leave You. Four siblings, as well as their mother and other
close family relations, reunite upon the death of their father. Each sibling went on to live their own lives,
separate from each other. Some of the
siblings were closer, leading to one defending another in a physical way. Some felt like the ignored child, the one who
always messed things up and couldn’t live up to the expectations set by the
rest of them. There were even physical
altercations between two brothers who didn’t get along. It covered all bases in a realistic way.
But this is the Sunday “Bad” Movies, and that’s a pretty
good movie. Bad movies have their share of
sibling drama as well. They don’t tend
to be as finely tuned, instead choosing to show a heightened relationship, whether
it’s on the positive or negative side of emotions. People will say things that sound
outrageous. Some might be more
realistic, though less fitting of a movie.
Others will just be ludicrous.
Beginning with the more contentious sibling relationship, we
have this week’s movie, Pets to the Rescue. The movie was about two siblings who were
grounded in their farmhouse. A band of
thieves showed up and took them hostage.
The younger child’s pets banded together to get their owners out of the
predicament. There was a goat, a pig, a
dog, a duck, and some chickens.
The reason for the relationship to be a not-so-good one was
that the siblings would have to band together in the end and grow respect for
one another. They were being held
hostage together and would only make it out with teamwork and the help of the pets. That’s why, at the beginning, the siblings
were irritating one another. The sister
wouldn’t do any of the chores, leaving the brother to do them all. The brother would constantly tease the sister. This culminated in a moment when he opened
her bedroom door and made fun of how small her breasts were. This wasn’t quite appropriate for a children’s
movie, but it set their relationship up so that it could change by the end.
This same sort of thing happened in the 1989 film Elves. It was much more extreme in the Christmas
horror movie. There was the same sort of
arc for the siblings. At the beginning
of the movie, they would be at each other’s throats. By the end, they would come to an
understanding and need to work together to stop the elf. The only difference was that things were
turned up to eleven. The brother again made
mention of the sister’s breasts. Only,
he was looking at his naked sister in the shower. When she confronted him, he said “You’ve got
fucking big tits and I’m gonna tell everyone I saw them!” That’s crazy for a kid to say to his sister. That moment had the same sort of meaning to
the story as the breasts moment in Pets to the Rescue. It was meant to set up the relationship that
would grow between the siblings.
Rabid Love was a movie that showcased the “just kind
of there” sibling relationship. The main
character’s boyfriend was the brother of the main character’s best friend. That didn’t need to be the case, since it
didn’t affect the story in any way, whatsoever.
It would have been the same exact story whether the characters were
siblings or not. They just kind of lived
their lives. There wasn’t any great
affection for one another and there wasn’t any hate. It was that middle ground of a sibling
relationship that really highlighted how they could just be two people living
in the same circle but not really caring one way or the other.
That sort of relationship doesn’t tend to get as much
screentime in movies outside of background children characters. Like, if the main characters are adults and
the adults are the ones being followed, but the adults have kids who don’t
really have any story outside of being there, they might get relegated to the
barely there sibling relationship. Most
movies focus on the negative relationship or positive relationship because they
can drive the story forward.
And with that, let’s get to the positive side of
things. One of the Sunday “Bad” Movies
that showed a loving sibling relationship that drove the story forward was Jem
and the Holograms. Two sisters and
two foster sisters formed a band and became internet famous. When the lead singer was forced to go solo by
a record producer, she realized that she was only successful because of her
love for her siblings and went back to them instead of following through on the
producer’s wishes. Sibling love saved
the day.
Some movies go to extremes to show sibling
relationships. It could be the
contentiousness of something like Pets to the Rescue or Elves. Or it could be the loving relationship shown
in Jem and the Holograms. Few
movies go to great lengths to show the non-sibling sibling relationship. And then there are the movies that are much more
grounded and realistic, like This is Where I Leave You. Siblings are an important part of everyday
life and end up being an important part of movies because of it.
Most people have at least one sibling. That’s not always the case. There are only children out there. But, for the most part, with the world’s
population constantly growing, people have siblings. Movies represent this fairly well by having
characters with siblings. Whether that’s
a major part of the story or not, a sibling relationship can give depth to a
character or give them added motivation.
It helps to tell a fuller, more realistic story. Even if the plot is outlandish. And that’s key. Real and relatable goes a long way in
storytelling. Siblings can add a lot.
These notes won’t add to much this week:
- Jem and the Holograms (week 238), Elves (week 106), and Rabid Love (week 341) were mentioned in this post.
- George Hamilton was in Pets to the Rescue. He was also in Sextette (week 141).
- Pets to the Rescue featured Jay Benedict, who was in Double Team (week 193).
- This week saw the second Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance of David S. Lee, who was in Free Birds (week 209).
- Finally, Greg Evigan from 6 Guns (week 247) was in Pets to the Rescue.
- Have you seen Pets to the Rescue? I doubt you have. What are some of your favourite depictions of siblings on film? What were some outrageous bad movie siblings? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
- I’m always on the lookout for bad movies I might not know about. If you have any suggestions, Twitter or the comments are where you can get them to me.
- There’s an Instagram account for the Sunday “Bad” Movies. You should give that a peek.
- And with that, we move onto the next week. It’s a big one. That doesn’t mean it’s a big number. It’s a big movie, though. I’m going to be taking a look at Hard Ticket to Hawaii, a bad movie that has become notorious. There are a few reasons for that, which I may get into next week. You’ll find out when the post comes out. I’ll see you then.
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